Tonight's Clinton show at the Democratic National Convention is not worrying Sen. John Kerry, even though many advisers have encouraged him to shoo Clinton off the center stage during the presidential campaign. Officials and delegates interviewed today expressed concern that the former president, who is being introduced by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton tonight, is going to raise the rhetorical bar too high and provide a comparison for the media to use when judging Kerry's Thursday night acceptance speech. "Clinton should just go away," said one labor leader and delegate. However, Kerry campaign officials said that the candidate has sought out Clinton and personally asked him to campaign for the Democratic ticket. They said that Kerry thinks Al Gore made a mistake by not using Clinton more in 2000. "He said, get Bill Clinton and Al Gore out there," said a party official who talked to Kerry about the issue. Campaign officials today said that Clinton would be given a long travel schedule that will target battleground states in August.
–Paul Bedard, U.S. News

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